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In my June 17 post, I poured out my dismay about two significant scheduled events that were abruptly cancelled at the last minute: a cataract operation and an Air Canada flight from Ottawa to Winnipeg. There has been some positive progress on both fronts.

As I mentioned in that post, the canceled cataract surgery (originally scheduled for May 31) was rescheduled to August 28, but I was put on a cancellation list. Then on July 8, I got a call asking if I was available the following day. I deliberated for maybe a quarter of a second before saying yes. It did mean bailing on a Music & Beyond concert I'd thought about attending, but the prospect of better vision won out.

Things went smoothly this time. Exactly one week from today, I'll be finished with all three varieties of eye drops I was prescribed. I've needed glasses since I was seven years old so it's truly a novel experience to be able to watch TV or go for a walk without them. I still need glasses for a few things but over-the-counter drugstore reading glasses are doing the job reasonably well until I can get my eyes tested again.

I also wrote about a cancelled Air Canada Ottawa-to-Winnipeg flight that was scheduled for June 10. After returning to Ottawa, I followed all the instructions on the Air Canada site for applying for compensation, giving all the requested details of the flight. A day or two later, I got their standard boilerplate brushoff, saying that the cancellation was determined to be within Air Canada's control but required for safety reasons so I was not entitled to compensation. But I persisted.

I replied that of course I understood that passenger and crew safety must not be compromised and that that particular plane couldn't be dispatched as originally scheduled. However, I went on, the substitute flight was certainly not equivalent to the one I had selected at time of booking in a number of respects, so I felt I should qualify for at least a partial refund. Would they be prepared to review my case?

That seemed do the trick and I was passed up the chain of command. Soon I got quite a reasonable e-mail back from someone else (maybe even a real live human!) saying that she had been assigned to look at my request and determine the amount of my refund. Then maybe a week or so later, I got an itemized account of how much I'd paid them and how much I'd be getting back.

So essentially they agreed to refund half of what I paid. They say it will be refunded to my credit card but that I should allow two billing cycles for it to appear on my credit card statement.

I haven't seen my money yet but I'll be keeping track and holding them to account!

In my June 17 entry, I also mentioned my latest trip on VIA rail, from Toronto to Ottawa. The train was late but before we even disembarked, we were informed that we could get 50% off the next ticket booked, as long as it was within 12 months.

I probably didn't really need to do anything in this case but I decided to e-mail them anyway, to ask whether I could expect some sort of coupon to appear in my online VIA Preference profile. I'm glad I did.

The thing is, I'm not sure at the moment when my next train trip is likely to be. What if I found I didn't want to take a train trip over the next 12 months and couldn't use my 50% off before it expired?

Well, it turned out I could get a bunch of Preference points instead. The points don't expire. And if it turns out I do take a bunch of train trips after all, the additional points I accrue might even bump me up to the next tier of their loyalty program.

I went with the points option and they've already been added to my profile.

So I guess if there's a moral to the story, it's ... persistence (potentially) pays off?

Just back from my Swedish adventure, I thought I'd launch a new series of entries dealing with travel in this day and age. It seems fitting to launch it today, September 11, as we all know that that date in 2001 ushered in a whole new set of procedures and protocols for travellers. And the 2020s mark the beginning of yet another age of new procedures and protocols related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

So today, hotels. I've learned a few things recently about what it means these days to be a hotel guest.


1. THE KEY IS KEY

Time was, when you booked into a hotel, you would get an actual physical key. That was the case even early in this century, particularly in the hotels I frequented in the U.K. In fact, there was one time in a very nice character-filled hotel in Edinburgh, when I returned to my all-made-up room to find a whole raft of keys on my coffee table. Goodness knows what they were all for, but the room cleaners had obviously left them there by mistake and I duly returned them to reception the next time I went downstairs. But there was certainly some good fodder for a story there!

Anyway, when they gave out physical old-fashioned style keys, they often wanted you to leave your key at reception if you were leaving the hotel even briefly. I suppose this had some advantages for both hotel management and guests. It meant that if the room was unoccupied, the main desk could take messages for you while you were out. It also meant that hotel staff would have a good idea of when to make up the room.

Nowadays we usually get a little plastic key card (the size of a bank card or credit card) that can be programmed (and later de-programmed) for the assigned room and guest(s) and number of nights booked. It's pretty efficient - when it works the way it's supposed to.

I've had that style of key which has suddenly stopped working mid-stay, which can be frustrating if you're trying to juggle luggage, parcels or whatever. During my latest trip, I did have that experience in Malmo at the very start of my stay. I was given a key-card at registration and when I got up to my room and tried it on my door, the little light flashed red but didn't go green and release the latch like it's supposed to. So down I went again with my luggage so they could re-do their magic with my key-card . And that time it worked.

But even when the key-card opens the door like it's supposed to, you're not quite home-free! Which brings me to the next thing I've learned:


2. LET THERE BE LIGHT!

I discovered this little hitch in July 2022, settling into the Mayson Hotel in Dublin. My key card opened the door like it was supposed to. I flicked the light-switch just inside the hotel room. Nothing. Then I went into the bathroom and flicked the light switch in there. Still nothing. I drew back the curtains as far as I could to get a maximum of natural light in the room and then tried as many other switches as I could find. Still no joy. I left my suitcase in the room and trundled back down to reception. A woman there took pity on me and accompanied me back up to my room. Turned out that I had to leave the key-card just inside the door whenever I was in the room, in order for any of the electricity to function.

I can see how that would be an ecologically sound measure. But if you're a woman alone, going into a dark hotel room from a dimly-lit corridor and your night vision is not the greatest, it doesn't make for the most disability-friendly accessibility experience. The woman who had escorted me up there saw the problem and gave me a spare key-card that I could keep there all the time (even when I wasn't in the room) so I wouldn't have to grope my way into the unknown. She said it wouldn't work to open any doors in the hotel (I didn't try) but would serve its purpose in terms of keeping the lights on. Now that was one enlightened hotel employee!

Even once I had that spare card, I noticed that lighting in that hotel room was not great if you wanted to read in bed, for example. So while in Dublin, I invested in a little battery-powered book-light, which has proved quite the godsend ever since.

In Sweden recently, my hotel room in Stockholm worked the same way but with my trusty battery book-light in my purse at all times, I was able to confidently navigate my way around, both during the day and in the evenings.


3. DO YOU WANT YOUR HOTEL ROOM CLEAN OR DIRTY?

I think perhaps the desired answer is "dirty". Well, not really.

It's been a thing with many North American hotels for a while now. If you're staying more than one night, they give you the option of not having your room serviced again until after you've checked out. In return for that, they offer you some paltry reward like maybe a free drink at their already overpriced bar. And they paint it as doing something wonderfully great for the planet so you can feel virtuous claiming your miserly discount.

That policy annoys me and I always nix it. I see it as taking jobs away from chambermaids who are already low-wage employees (at least in most North American hotels). I also see it as a tacit admission that hotel management doesn't value its staff, seeing the worth of their work as, well, small beer.

To be clear, I don't see the need to change my sheets every night of my stay. But I do like to have my bed made up, my wastebaskets emptied, the soggy or grotty towels replaced as needed, the coffee and tea-making supplies replenished. To me, that's just a normal part of the hotel-room experience in a 4-star hotel.

Anyway, in Sweden they didn't try to bribe me with a free drink. They simply asked if I wanted a "cleaning" done on subsequent days of my stay. No extra charge, but I did have to specify that I wanted it done, once I had ascertained that "cleaning" to them meant any (or maybe all) aspects of servicing my room.


4. BREAKFAST ON THE HOUSE!

I arranged my Sweden jaunt through Nordic Visitor. NV sent me vouchers for hotel accommodations in Stockholm, Malmo and Gothenburg, as well as train tickets between those places. I could pick any start date or end date I wanted and then within those limits, my time was my own to do what I wanted (though they did offer suggestions).

Anyway, the hotel vouchers all indicated that breakfast was included. I pictured what's often known as "continental breakfast": you know, a couple of stale croissants, coffee or tea, maybe a glass of orange juice if you're lucky. So I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the breakfast included was an extensive buffet, with hot food - omelettes, home fries, grilled vegetables, pancakes - as well as an array of fresh fruits, yogurt, cheeses, cereals (both hot and cold), multiple kinds of breads and rolls and even little cakes. I quickly learned to make breakfast the main meal of my day.

My Malmo hotel was even more generous that way. Not only was breakfast included, but also fika (coffee or tea break, with cake), served between 3 and 5PM, and an evening meal, served between 6 and 9PM. Alcoholic beverages were available at an additional charge (I got my first taste of Aquavit!). The one downside to all that was that there were no coffee-making supplies in my room, so I had to go out if I wanted tea or coffee after (or before) hours.


5. OTHER HOTEL AMENITIES

All of the hotels I stayed at were centrally located, enabling me to explore the cities on foot. And I have to say that all the places I went to were very pedestrian friendly.

Although European hotels often don't have swimming pools, I had learned in advance of my trip that the Gothenburg Clarion Post (located right beside the train station) had a rooftop pool and was looking forward to unwinding there with a good view of the city sights. But in the end, it seemed too complicated. There was an extra charge for using the pool and you had to book a 2-hour time slot in advance. I didn't know how long I would be out exploring the sights or what time I'd want to enjoy the pool, so I decided to give it a miss.


So that's my capsule summary of my experiences with hotels in the 2020s. More entries will be forthcoming in my Travelogues of the 2020s series.

As we emerge from COVID lockdowns in Canada thanks to mass vaccination campaigns, there are still parts of the world where only a tiny fraction of the population is vaccinated. That's why this week's donation is directed to Unicef Canada's Giveavax campaign:

https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/canadian-unicef-committee/campaign/7-donate-to-unicefs-giveavax-covid-19-vaccine-match-fund/?utm_source=ch-supporters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=July292021_vaccination_appeal_EN&utm_content=0634+July+29+021_International_vaccination_appeal

And for the next month or so, the Government of Canada will match donations made by Canadians to the fund. At $4.81 per double-shot dose, we can make a real difference.

Many of us are longing to get back to international travel but that won't happen unless our intended destination has also got the virus under control.

Now, if we could only start working towards international standards for which vaccines and combinations thereof are accepted across national borders!